"Ripe with tenor and trouble. The former film aggressively male, the latter aggressively female. I’ve paired them because after viewing each I felt as though I had been placed under a spell. I’ve seen both more than twenty times, and every time I see something new. I don’t know how they did it, but have you ever watched something and felt like you were stuffed with drugs? This is Johnny Depp’s best performance, and Benicio Del Toro is a revelation. The physical embodiment of both these men . . . Bravo! And let’s not forget the always magic Giulietta Masina in one of her last collaborations with Fellini. She is absorbing and taut. Each of these films is a feat and a feast. An exercise in the grotesque."

"Ripe with tenor and trouble. The former film aggressively male, the latter aggressively female. I’ve paired them because after viewing each I felt as though I had been placed under a spell. I’ve seen both more than twenty times, and every time I see something new. I don’t know how they did it, but have you ever watched something and felt like you were stuffed with drugs? This is Johnny Depp’s best performance, and Benicio Del Toro is a revelation. The physical embodiment of both these men . . . Bravo! And let’s not forget the always magic Giulietta Masina in one of her last collaborations with Fellini. She is absorbing and taut. Each of these films is a feat and a feast. An exercise in the grotesque."

"Normally if a movie doesn’t have a monster in it, I’m not interested. All I like are horror movies; but I don’t like slasher movies. To me, just seeing people getting hurt, that’s not entertaining to me. My favorite things of all time, they have to have a supernatural element to them, and there has to be a sense of romance to them, and an otherworldly quality that makes you feel like there’s more magic in life. So for me, my five favorite movies of all time are the ones I’ve watched over and over and over. Number one, just first and foremost my favorite movie of all time — The Mothman Prophecies, with Richard Gere and Debra Messing. Have you ever seen that?"

"Finished this one last week and forgot to mark, but I loved it. I ended up taking a massive break for several months because I'm such a mood reader but I really have always loved this one. I remember missing the magic as a teen since Umbridge was being Umbridge but the last act remains one of the most exciting in the series. And I was really happy to get to revisit the scene where Harry talks to Nearly Headless Nick about why some wizards become ghosts and why most don't. I always wanted that scene in the movie, but it's beautifully done in the book. Also loved the extensive conversation between Harry and Dumbledore, which was also reasonably shortened in the film. #AdamRereadsHP"

"Throughout my writing life I have relied on Marina Warner to guide me through the hidden realms of literature and culture. She has a wast knowledge of folk stories, religious tracts, legends and classical works from all points of the globe and her analysis of how they continue to be present in our lives and work is always inspiring. In Stranger Magic she tells the story of how Scheherazade’s tales in The Arabian Nights were embraced and appropriated by western culture without ever loosing their original power. As I am working my way towards a new novel which includes the influence of Arabic culture on medieval Icelandic writing Warner has once again provided me with her keen insight into the mechanisms of how stories travel."